Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Low Fat Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

I've been trying out homemade salad dressing lately, and found a new one that I love! This is the closest to bottled ranch dressing that I have found. It is so easy, and so good!! I found it here: allrecipes.com. (Update- I still don't know exactly how long this stays good for, but I know that mine was still good when we finished it 2 weeks after making it.)

If you like ranch (who doesn't??), here's a tortellini salad you might like as well- Summer Tortellini Salad.



Low Fat Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
Printable version here

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/3 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1/3 cup low-fat sour cream
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. chopped fresh chives
1 tsp. chopped fresh dill
1 tsp. chopped fresh parsley (optional)
1/4 tsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Whisk together the buttermilk, mayonnaise, and sour cream in a bowl. Stir in the garlic powder, onion powder, chives, dill, parsley, salt, and pepper. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

(Adjust the consistency with more or less buttermilk, as desired)

*If you don't have fresh herbs, and don't want to buy a package from the store (when you only need a tiny bit), I have found this to be a good alternative. I use the dill and chive ones in this recipe, and I have used the basil one in other recipes. They really do work as well as fresh herbs! They're kept in the refrigerated section at the grocery store, near the packaged herbs.  I use the same amount of these as I would fresh herbs.


Why I love it? For one, it's a nice way to use some of the herbs in my backyard. It also tastes delicious, is easy to make, and is better for you than bottled dressing.

(Kraft's Light Ranch ingredient list, in case you were curious, is this):
WATER, CORN SYRUP, SOYBEAN OIL, VINEGAR, EGG YOLKS, SALT, SUGAR, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, GARLIC JUICE, SODIUM LACTATE, BUTTERMILK, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, PHOSPHORIC ACID, XANTHAN GUM, ARTIFICIAL COLOR, POLYSORBATE 60, SPICES, DRIED PARSLEY, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, NATURAL FLAVOR, VITAMIN E, LACTIC ACID, NATAMYCIN (NATURAL PRESERVATIVE)

I would much rather eat the homemade kind, if given the choice! :)

4 comments:

  1. This is awesome! I've been looking for a good ranch recipe.

    Did you ever find out how long it will last in the fridge?

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  2. Good question! We just finished the batch of it two days ago, which I think was exactly two weeks after making it. It still tasted just the same. So, it seems like at least 2 weeks is fine. :)

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  3. I know this is an older post. I just found your blog from diaperswappers and have been exploring it. I noticed that you said you were following the 100 days of real food, so maybe this post was before that?

    The reason I ask is because you said you would rather have homemade dressing than the store bought and posted the ingredients of the store bought. Yet the ingredients for low fat mayo are just as scary to me :)

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  4. I'm not actually following the 100 days challenge, just using some of their recipes. :) You're right, it still uses store bought mayo... I feel that it's still a step above Kraft ranch though. Some day I might tackle mayo too, who knows. ;)

    ReplyDelete